The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1887-06-10

Kalamazoo we had Fireman S Hall and
but ten people present. three Of them
were deadheads, with the result that
Mcclure was unable to pay the hall
rent, and the proprietor held his pic
lures as security.
There is little town a few miles be-
yond Kalamazoo on the Michigan Cen
trail railroad. Immediately after the
close of my lecture at Kalamazoo Nc
CURE gave me thirty-five cents to pay
my fare to this town so that / might
distribute the handbills of the piano.
ramic exhibition. He did not then
know that his appliances would be
held. left toward midnight, and that
was the last 1 ever saw of the piano.
rama and its proprietor.
/ secured the little hall contained in
the town, and distributed printed adj
vertisements. The trains came, but no
panorama. Two days thus passed,
when letter from Mcclure informed
me that he was about to return to Da-
venport to obtain some more money,
and that he would come back in few
days.
When, after some time had elapsed,
and the promised panorama did not
come, began to feel my situation en-
barrassing. The hotel proprietor had
acc epted my explanation of lack of
funds, and readily agreed to await the
arrival of Mcclure. AT the end of a
week matters began to change. There
was no Mcclure, and l was not the
possessor of a single nickel. 1 was
ashamed to write for assistance to any
of my friends; in fact, could think of
none of them that would probably re-
spOnd to request for money, under
the circumstances. 1 became despOnd-
emit; my bright promises of a year be-
fore had all faded, and / felt myself an
absolute failure. / was a wretched
eastaway in a strange region without a
friend, or resource, or hope.
One day, when sitting in a bowling
alley, and watching a game between a
couple of local experts, stranger
entered, and. after looking around in
an Indifferent manner, finally, as if by
accident, dropped into the seat adjoin-
ing mine. Some peculiar stroke by
one of the players elected remark
from me, to which he responded. This
grew into a conversation, and laterintO
an intimacy. He was a tall man, about
thirty years of age. with n smooth,
open face, keen brown eyes, dark hair,
and a physique indicating great
strength. He was very sociable in his
methods, treating freely at the bar, and
had at his command n large supply of
money, especially in the shape of gold
coin, a handful of which he was in the
habit of pulling from his pocket when
he had to pay for some purchase.
He seemed to take liking for me.
He cultivated my acquaintance. He
had been about the world good deal,
and knew many curious people and
wonderful things In my loneliness he
was a welcome distraction, and l be-
came attached to him and we were in
separable.
One bright Sabbath he invited me to
take a walk into the country. We
strolled along the wagon road for a
mile or so,and then turned into mead
ow, near the center of which was a
large tree. To this he led the way, and
when we reached it we sat down within
the grateful shade. My companion
seemed unusually happy. His ideas
ran on the splendOrs of wealth, the
glory of travel, the favors of beautiful
women and other matters kindred in
their roseate suggestions. At length
his thoughts drifted insensibly, as it
l., i s.
iniliar with ancient history and with
the legends of the fabulous wealth of
the Oriental rulers and princes, of their
excuses, their amours and their lux
urious designations.
He related many curious legends,
among which Solomon was a principal
figure. Finally he told me the follow
ing;
''Some fifty years ago there was a
traveller engaged in examining the
ruins of the temple in Jerusalem. He
was a man of great learning, especially
in antiquarian history and in chemis-
try. For many weeks he searched
through the foundations of the temple
carefully examining every foot of its
| accessible surface. He consulted con-
stantly during his search a small dia-
gram made up of puzzling lines.
lone day, in a remote recess which
he discovered, and whose entrance had
apparently been concealed for ages, he
closely examined the walls, and on one
of them found some mysterious charac-
ters. The moment he saw these he
commenced a minute inspection of the
floor, in one corner of which, after a
! long examination, he found imbedded
in the stone an iron ring"
To make the story brief, he said that
/ the old man discovered narrow stone
/ stairway beneath the stone in which
the iron ring was fixed, and at the bot
tom a small apartment in which was a
chest from which he took metal plate
engraved with hieroglyphics. This he
concealed about his person, and after
carefully replacing the stone and filling
up the entrance to the recess with rub
bish. he disappeared.
well, whatever became of him?" l
asked, land what was the mysterious
plate?"
He looked all around as if there
might be listener, and then whispered
ut was a recipe of a formula for the
making of gold"
"And the old man, what of himP"
"See here, let me tell you some
| thing and here his voice sank so low
as to be almost indistinguishable. ''Up
in the peninsula of Michigan, in a place
surrounded for miles with rocks and
timber, there lives man so old that
nobody can guess his age. He has